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Emerging
web-based technologies
Virtual
workspaces
A private workspace on the web commonly includes many features:
built-in e-mail, chat, messaging, threaded discussions, shared documents,
surveys and polling, links
to other resources, calendars, schedules and whatever else in the way
of computer-based
functions helps people link to people and to digital information.
Virtual workspaces are exceptionally important to developing a community
of practice, and we shall spend considerable time demonstrating
the
uses of those kinds of communities. Lotus Notes (and later, Domino)
were early attempts to create common, network-based workspaces, although
the communications
capabilities
were
limited. There are many variations and new applications
arrive monthly; some are free, many are inexpensive.
Web logs and wikis
The distracting and increasingly erroneous notion about blogs (among
those who've even heard of them) is that they are for publishing personal
diaries
and journals—not
for serious use. There are probably more than a million blogs online
today, but only a small fraction of them are done by professionals. Those
blogs
are considered essential parts of the professional community—they
are used to exchange ideas at an early stage, to circulate papers,
to call attention to recent developments and news, to keep in touch
with others
are the periphery of their field. Less structured and limited than
a newsletter, they allow comments and annotations by other readers.
Web conferencing
If you add the ability to share visual content and applications to traditional
audio conferencing/teleconferencing you have one of the hotter new
applications around. The capability goes by a lots of names—webinars,
web conferencing, video conferencing—and there are many variations
in
core features and options. The best news is that anyone with a browser,
an Internet connection, and a credit card can set up a basic web
conference among a dozen or more people without special equipment
or connections;
and it is possible to do so on a very limited budget. Training, product
demonstrations, customer support, and just plain old committee meetings
among geographically-scattered participants are the dominant applications
currently used.
Instant messaging
If you have teenagers around the house, you may have heard of instant
messaging (IM), but most professionals and managers have never used
it at work. It
may be of the verge of wider recognition, however; Newsweek (May
12, 2003) enthused that
about a third of today’s 200 million IM users worldwide
are doing it at work. As it
turns out, the tool that was so popular initially
with
teenagers is also great for
doing business. Analysts predict that
by 2006 IM will overtake e-mail as the
primary communication tool at
work.
The Web
Competencies Seminar (which "meets" via the Internet and
teleconferencing) comes in several versions, from a five module
overview to a 12 module comprehensive apprenticeship.
The seminars are designed to create knowledgeable and
proficient users of these and other advanced web-based
technologies, as well as assist participants in developing specific
applications
for their organizations and practices.
Who should
consider this seminar
The seminar
has been created for people who believe their organizations increasingly
will need to deliver services to their members via the Internet,
to train
and conference with staff
via the Internet, to engage in dialogs with their publics via the Internet,
and to research, poll, even vote via the Internet. The
courses are designed to provide individual competencies with these Web-based
applications,
as well as solid insight into ways the applications can be used in the
participant's organization or practice. In some cases, the CEO of, say,
a regional non-profit might be the only one in that organization with
the vision to see how these tools would benefit the group; in other cases,
an office manager, administrative assistant with some clout, or even
the "alpha geek" of the business might be appropriate
participants. The core competency is to enable participants
to see the possibilities of each of these web-based applications and
services
for their organizations.
For a syllabus,
schedule and cost information, click here.
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